Zek | Gear Diary

Gear Bits February 5, 2011

New Mac Switcher? There’s an App for That!

Switching to a Mac is exciting and fun, but if you’re coming from Windows it can be quite intimidating. Luckily, the enterprising developers at It’s About Time have a handy app to make that easier for you. Normally it’s $24.95, or bundled as part of a $99 Parallels deal, but right now in the Mac App Store, it’s at the bargain bin price of just $0.99! At that price, even if you’re not a total mac newbie you may want to see if there are any new tricks you don’t already know! Check out the video demo, and then let…

eBooks February 5, 2011

State of the eBook: The Winter Freeze

(if you’d like to vote, head to Gatekeeper’s Post now!) Welcome to another State of the eBook! Hopefully, you’ve had some good books to keep you warm this winter (and not in the book-burning way). Despite the quiet hardware cycle, we’ve had some big developments behind the scenes. What started as a sleepy winter may lead into a fairly explosive spring! Why is that? Read on to find out! Android: This is a bit of a mixed bag right now. On the upside, it’s looking like the Xoom will be hitting stores by the end of February, not to mention…

Gear Bits February 5, 2011

Twitter Guest Stars on “Grey’s Anatomy”

It’s a bit shameful, but I still watch “Grey’s Anatomy”. It’s my soapy guilty pleasure! I settled in last night to catch up on last night’s episode, and was surprised to discover that surgeons using Twitter was a big part of the storyline! I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that even when the jokes were predictable (like the Chief mistakenly saying he wanted to check out Dr. Bailey’s ‘tits’ not her ‘tweets’), it was a cute storyline, plus the power of social media saved the day.

eBooks, Gear Bits February 2, 2011

Kindle Singles

Kindle singles have been available for about a week, and my household has been brave enough to give them a try. Not only did I read one, but I convinced my dear wife and non-ebook fan Sarah to try one as well! I read a non-fiction title (Lifted, by Evan Ratliff), while Sarah read Leaving Home: Short Pieces by Jodi Picoult, who is one of her favorite authors. I enjoyed Lifted immensely. It was quick-paced, interesting, and read like a longer magazine article. What I really enjoyed was that it cut right to the important bits. If Lifted had been…

eBooks, Editorials February 1, 2011

Apple Discovers the Key to iBooks Success — iBooting the Competition?

Earlier today Mike brought us the news that Sony’s Reader app was rejected from the App Store, and he did a great job of explaining how murky the whole story really is. Whether Apple purposely rejected the Reader app as part of a longer plan to cull all ebook readers from the App Store, or whether Sony brought the issue upon themselves by breaking the rules remains to be determined. What’s more disturbing is the news from Techcrunch that Apple didn’t directly deny the possibility of cracking down on the ebook app “browser trick”, where book purchases are done by…

eBooks, News & Features February 1, 2011

Gatekeeper’s Post – the Huffington Post for Books?

There’s ample evidence that we’re at a crossroads in book history. Borders is struggling to survive, and publishers, editors, authors, and consumers are working to find their place in the brave new world of ebooks. Luckily, they don’t have to do it alone, thanks to the launch of Gatekeeper’s Post! I had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Rivera, Editor in Chief of Gatekeeper’s Post, about the launch of the site and what he hopes to accomplish with it. Effectively, they’re looking to create a place where everyone from librarians to authors to agents to readers can keep up on…

Gear Bits January 30, 2011

Angry Birds Head Way South…to Rio!

Have you beaten all the “regular” Angry Birds levels, and even conquered Angry Birds Seasons? Do you open the game and admire all your 3-star levels and awesome high scores? Well, get your flinging fingers limbered up…because a new Angry Birds is coming this spring! Fox has the new animated movie “Rio” coming out this spring, about birds…Rovio has a game about birds. It’s a match made in casual gaming heaven! No word on the exact release time beyond March 2011, but the trailer makes me very excited for the game! Via Androidcentral

eBooks, News & Features January 29, 2011

Otterbox Jumps into the eBook Case Market

So you’re rocking a new Kindle, Sony Reader, or B&N NOOK. It rides shotgun in your bag, hangs out by your bedside, etc. But what about when you take it to the beach? Or need to bring it in a bag full of gear? Protect it with new Otterbox eBook Reader Cases! For the Kindle 3: For the Kindle DX: For the Sony Reader Touch: For the B&N NOOK (Original, not NOOKcolor): All these cases can be purchased directly from Otterbox. The Kindle 3, NOOK and Sony Reader cases are all $49.95, while the Kindle DX runs slightly more expensive…

Gear Bits January 25, 2011

Borders Gives New Meaning to “Everything Must Go!”

I am going to say up front, I have no idea the circumstances under which this transaction took place…but in catching up with an old Borders co-worker, she mentioned that Borders apparently sold everything down to the studs when they closed down our old store. After exchanging a few jokes about who would want the café display case, she said she’d heard Borders sold a toilet seat and a urinal. Borders is so broke they sold someone a urinal. If that’s not a frightening sign, then I don’t know what is!

Editorials January 24, 2011

Droid Does Smartphone Monogamy

I bought my Motorola Droid in December of 2009. 2009 was a very busy year for me with smartphones; I started with an original iPhone, then became frustrated with the notification system and jumped ship to Windows Mobile. That lasted only a few months before I jumped ship AGAIN, to a Nokia E71x. I didn’t love Symbian, so I jumped yet again to Windows Mobile Smartphone, which lasted all of two minutes before I went back to the iPhone again. Finally, a combination of factors led me to switching to Verizon from AT&T, and I switched to my Droid…the last…

Gear Bits January 24, 2011

Be Safe Out There!

Music is great. It can keep you motivated on a run, or help you maintain a certain speed. Plus having music can help the time go by quickly. But please, please, please, be aware of your surroundings. If you’re running outside, stick to the sidewalks in well-lit areas, or leave the headphones home. This story is really sad, and while yes, most people don’t run on train tracks, it’s just as dangerous running on the side of the road with music blaring. The news is a few days old, but I thought about it on my run today; I try…

Reviews January 22, 2011

Amplicom Alarm Clock Review

Every morning it’s the same routine. You’re sound asleep, and then your iPhone/Droid/alarm clock/dog starts going off and announcing WAKE UP TIME! Basically, something blares in or around your head and you start moving. What if you were hearing impaired, though? How do you make sure the alarm wakes you up? That’s where the Amplicom alarm clock comes in. Amplicom makes a number of accessibility devices, and they sent me the TCL200 to test. This is an alarm clock that offers a number of hearing and visually impaired aids, including a vibrating pad (for the hearing impaired), a speaker that…

eBooks January 22, 2011

Kobo Wants to See Your Office

Actually, Kobo just wants to see you reading in your office. If you head over to Kobo’s Facebook page, and either post on their wall or add a picture of your office. That enters you in a drawing to win a Kobo eReader! They’re giving away 4 Kobo eReaders AND the Grand Prize winner also gets 10 ebooks too! I reviewed the Kobo WiFi Reader here, and found it to be a great little device! Again, if you missed The Office the other night, here’s a clip of Darryl checking out the Kobo reader:

Editorials January 21, 2011

Tim Cook, AppleInsider and Boundaries

Dan: The conversation started early this morning when I read a post over on Apple Insider that just didn’t sit well with me. Apple Insider calls Tim Cook the most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley I wrote to the other editors This just offends me. Do we get articles that begin… “Most powerful heterosexual but currently celibate after his third nasty divorce” or “Most powerful 37 year-old virgin although we have no doubt she is straight”. ??? Who cares if he is straight or gay when it comes to running Apple… and who’s business is it anyhow? Judie: I…

eBooks, Gear Bits January 20, 2011

Kobo eReader Gets Featured on the Office!

Tonight on The Office our friends at Kobo snuck in a great bit of product placement! I won’t spoil the whole scene, but it’s very amusing and manages to add in a pitch about how many books the Kobo Reader can hold! We’re working on getting a screenshot, but until then head over to the official Office site to catch the episode online!

News & Features January 20, 2011

The Ethics of Steve Jobs’ Medical Leave

By now you’ve probably seen every blog post out there about Steve Jobs and his medical leave. It’s been a complicated situation since being CEO brings with it obligations that a private individual doesn’t have. On the other hand, Steve Jobs is a private man and deserves the chance to hopefully recover in peace. We could debate this all day, but Businessweek’s resident ethics expert has stepped into the fray with a fantastic and clearly outlined explanation of both sets of obligations (that of a private individual as well as that of the leader of a major corporation who answers…

News & Features January 13, 2011

Astrological Signs Hit Their 5,000 Year Recalculation

I always thought of astrology as a fairly fixed field of “study”. If you were born between certain dates, then you were born under a certain sign. As it turns out, astrology is heavily influenced by astronomy, and therefore as the earth spins the astrological calculations may need adjustments. The upshot: every 5,000 years or so your sign may need changing! I wonder if there’s an astrological version of the oil change sticker; “Every 5,000 years or 35,000,000 earth rotations, please recalculate Astrological chart” If you’re wondering if you are now under a new constellation, here’s the breakdown: NEW ZODIAC…

News & Features January 12, 2011

Toe Salad, a Social and Review Site for Minimal Running!

It’s no secret that some of us at Gear Diary are big fans of shoes like Vibram Five Fingers. But VFFs are far from the only minimalist shoes available! These days it seems like every major running company has a minimal shoe in their lineup, and there are dozens of small shoemakers all trying to carve out a place in this new niche. Unfortunately, unless you’re lucky enough to live near a major city or a very progressive running store, you need to turn to the internet to figure out what shoe might work for your minimal running adventures. It…

Editorials, Events January 12, 2011

Gear Diary at CES Brought to You by Google

We hope you enjoyed Gear Diary’s coverage of CES 2011! All of the editors of the site worked with various devices, but they all had one thing in common: Google. Yes, Gear Diary at CES was brought to you by various Google OSes and services. What were our favorite Google-y gadgets? Read on to find out! Carly My day job is fairly restricted, and so I don’t have access to anything behind the scenes at Gear Diary on my work PC. Thankfully, I have the CR-48 Chrome OS computer, and that made my life very easy all week while Dan,…

eBooks January 11, 2011

The Future of Indie Authors and Publishing

Teleread shared some very interesting tidbits the other day about independent authors and their sales numbers. J. A. Konrath is often the voice of independent authors, as he famously broke free from his publisher and is now thriving through self-publishing and seeing his ebook sales fly through the roof. But he’s not alone. In fact, there are 25 authors listed who sold 2500+ ebooks in the month of December! Granted, these numbers are including the lucrative and extremely skewed Christmas season, but still — some of those authors sold 30k or even 100k in one month! Those are impressive sales…

News & Features January 9, 2011

Contour GPS Adds Bluetooth to Hands-Free Video

It’s an issue as old as Xtreme Sportz. You’ve strapped a video camera to your helmet, and you’re convinced it’s absolutely killer footage. Unfortunately, you taped the camera at the wrong angle, and instead of seeing your wicked skating set everyone sees the sky. Luckily, ContourGPS has a hands-free video camera that solves this issue by turning your phone into the viewfinder via Bluetooth. I can see where this would be helpful since without some sort of screen you don’t know that your camera is aimed properly. However, may I make a suggestion? If you’re going to be using this…

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